


don't go breakin' my heart [i couldn't if i tried]

by crossroadswrite



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining Derek Hale, derek is kind of a nerd-jock and so is stiles, it's my M.O. this fic that's what
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 07:05:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7498761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossroadswrite/pseuds/crossroadswrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular belief, Derek Hale – co-captain of the basketball team and AP student who volunteers in the library – isn’t actually as smooth as people might <em>think</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	don't go breakin' my heart [i couldn't if i tried]

**Author's Note:**

> this lil one isn't betaed my friendos, so sorry about that but quickity-quick tumblr prompts normally aren't.
> 
> someone over on the tumblrs prompted me: Sterek Highschool AU where Stiles and Derek are in different social circles and one of them asks out the other, and they're really shocked and reflexively say no because they think it's a joke and then the one that asked the other out is embarrassed and stammering like "oh, oh yeah of course" and backs off almost in tears at the embarrassment)
> 
> and after fifteen long years here it is! enjoy!
> 
> title taken from [Don't Go Breaking My Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmRgFzg0jI) by Elton John and Kiki Dee

Contrary to popular belief, Derek Hale – co-captain of the basketball team and AP student who volunteers in the library – isn’t actually as smooth as people might _think_.

During his entire high school career, he’s only had one girlfriend, Paige, who he awkwardly flirted with and mooned over until she decided to give him the time of day and ask him out because _you’re kind of cute and actually know your classical composers_.

He has no idea how the rumors about him dating around started, but they’re definitely not true. He dated Paige for the first two years of high school, they broke up after Paige moved away with her family, neither of them really thinking that a long distance relationship would work.

He hasn’t really been interested in anyone else since Paige to warrant any kind of rumors about how he charms girls and strings them along. In fact, Derek Hale makes it a point to be nice to everyone and respect women like his mother taught him to. Never in his life has he overstepped with a girl, which is makes these rumors that he strings girls along all the more mind-boggling.

All in all, he doesn’t _understand_ his womanizer fame but he also doesn’t care a lot that he has it.

He doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong, so he can’t stop doing it and he knows that rumors like that are hard to shake off. When you get a reputation in high school it’s hard for people to see you as more than that.

That’s why Derek doesn’t pay much attention to the rumors about the latest girl he apparently strung along. That is, he doesn’t care until he sees Stiles Stilinski running laps on the lacrosse field, laughing along with his friend, broad shoulders working as he grips his cross and throws the ball into the goal, eyes lighting up when he grins, throwing his head back when he laughs, and almost immediately making Derek fall not only in love but also face first on the floor.

The whole affair is pretty embarrassing honestly, and when Stiles comes over with the rest of the lacrosse players to check the idiot who’d tripped and fell flat on his face, Derek is speechless, doesn’t really manage more than a “Buh,” and some intense glaring when Stiles offers him a hand to get up and a careless smile, tacking a _don’t worry dude, it happens to me all the time_ to his actions _._

That’s when Derek really starts caring about his rep as an apparent womanizer because that’s when he _notices_ Stiles and wants to maybe start noticing him a whole lot closer, except he can’t because Stiles apparently has _heard_ about his reputation and so he disregards Derek’s every clumsy attempt at flirting.

Derek doesn’t really understand how he never noticed Stiles before.

They’re both on sports teams, and even though they never really crossed paths before (an impressive feat somewhere as small as Beacon Hills) now it seems they bump into each other all the time.

In the locker rooms, where Derek has a distressing amount of difficulty keeping his eyes to himself, but still does because he was taught some manners, in the cafeteria where Derek somehow seems to always find Stiles laughing with his group of friends, getting in the school when Stiles rolls in with his loud Jeep, and getting out when Derek gets into his sister’s Camaro and blushes to the tips of his ears when Laura teases him and slings an arm over his shoulders.

Despite seeing him everywhere and sharing a locker with him, Derek and Stiles aren’t really in the same social circles.

Stiles sits with Lydia Martin and Danny Mahealani, the smart and the incredibly beautiful of Beacon Hills High.

Derek sits with Erica and Boyd, the usually ignored and painfully dorky that often reel him into intense arguments over literature (read: Boyd) and the feminism (read: Erica).

Stiles seemingly spends his day being breathtaking with his group of friends, and being one of the smartest people in school.

Derek spends his days screwing around with his friends, helping out in the library and trying to sweet talk the librarian into letting him take more books home than the maximum allowed.

They’re not really _in_ the same circles, but neither were Paige and Derek, and Derek was disgustingly and absolutely smitten with Paige too.

The more he learns about Stiles, the more he likes him, which comes to be a real problem when Stiles laughs off every single one of his failed attempts at flirting, patting Derek on the shoulder and calling him _bro_.

“Maybe you need to be more upfront with him,” Erica says. “Just say the words.”

“The words?” Derek says slowly, not sure if he understands this madness Erica is talking about.

“Yeah. Just go to him and say you like him, that you think he’s cute and wanna go on a date, and maybe afterwards ride his dick so hard he can’t get up for a week.”

“ _Erica_ ,” Derek hisses, feeling himself flush.

Erica’s laugh rings loud and bright through the hall.

“Just- man up, Derek. Ask the boy out.”

Derek gives her an unimpressed look. “ _Man_ _up_? Really?”

Erica punches him on the shoulder. “You know what I mean. _Just ask him out_.”

Derek frowns. “What if he says no?”

“ _What_ if he says no?! At least you tried, and now you know he’s not interested and can move on. Plus, I don’t have to watch you pining with your sad cow eyes all day, thinking about Stilinski’s dick.”

Derek glares; Erica stares back impassive.

“Der, you gotta do it sooner or later. And I’d rather it be sooner, so I can get to know his friends and we can coordinate our suits for the spring formal.”

Derek glares harder.

“But what if he says _no_?”

Erica groans and turns to smack her forehead on Boyd’s chest, who pats her sympathetically on the shoulder.

“He won’t say no.”

“You can’t know that,” he huffs and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Yes I can. I have it in pretty good authority that if you asked, Stilinski would say yes.”

Derek raises an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“Whose authority.”

“I’m not giving away my sources.”

Derek lets his other eyebrow join the first and just _stares_.

Erica lasts five minutes before she gives in. “Ugh, _fine_. Allison Argent. She came to me asking if Stiles would have any chance with you and I told her yes.”

Derek drops his arms in surprise. “She asked if Stiles had a chance with me?”

“Yes,” Erica hisses out, looking mildly annoyed. “Now, _go ask him out_.”

“I- yeah, yeah okay,” he says.

Erica grins. “That’s my boy, go get ‘em.”

Derek takes a deep breath and hikes his backpack up nervously. “Yeah, okay. Just- gonna ask Stiles out. Right now. Going to-“

“Move,” Erica says and gives him a shove, making him stumble a couple of steps forward and then glare back over his shoulder at her.

“Fine, _Christ_ , you’re worse than my sisters.”

Erica blows him a kiss, and then makes a shooing motion with her hands.

Derek takes another steadying breath and makes his way towards the bleachers where he knows Stiles likes to hang out in his free period just after lunch, tossing a lacrosse ball around or doing homework or just talking and laughing with his friends.

(And Derek knows this because he’s a completely normal teenager and just happened upon it, it’s not like he made Erica and Boyd take a stroll around the school just so he could catch a glimpse of Stiles pssht that’s ridiculous.)

Stiles is exactly where he usually is, sprawled on the bottom bench of the bleachers, leaning back on his elbows and enjoying the spring sun, lazily talking to his friends.

Derek looks over his shoulder, feeling his nerves swoop and his heart start racing.

Boyd and Erica are there, giving him supportive thumbs up and in that moment he loves his friends beyond words.

Stiles’ group of friends all turn to look at him when he starts approaching. Allison elbows Scott sharply with a grin on her face. Danny and Lydia exchange complicit looks, while Stiles flails to sit upright on the bench.

“Derek!” he exclaims, his voice a little higher than usual and it makes Derek relax a little bit.

“Hi,” Derek says lamely.

Stiles smiles at him, all crinkled eyes and breathtaking. “Hey.”

“So, um-“ he bites his lip. “I was wondering if you’d like to-“ he looks down at his shoes, grips his backpack straps tightly, takes a deep breath and then slowly looks up again, heart full of hope, “if you’d like to go out with me sometime? Friday, maybe?”

Stiles is silent for a beat, mouth dropped open and eyes wide.

“You must be shitting me,” he says, and it’s like a punch to the solar plexus. Derek’s pretty sure he actually doubles over, in the very little draws his shoulders up and curls a little on himself.

He knew Stiles could say no, he _knew_ , but- but Erica had said- and he had hoped and _stupid, he’s so fucking stupid_.

“Oh,” he says, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “Yeah, I-“ he stumbles a step back. “Sorry, I- of course you don’t want to- Sorry, it was stupid of me to ask- I just-“ he chokes up and turns on his heels all but running out of there.

He knew Stiles could say no, but he wasn’t really counting on it hurting so much. _Of course_ he wouldn’t want to go out with Derek.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid._ Why would he even think Stiles would give him the time of day.

He passes Boyd and Erica, shouldering off their hands and makes it straight to the bathroom, throwing his backpack on the floor and sliding down to the floor in one of the stalls.

He just needs a little bit to process that Stiles would _never_ like him like that, that Stiles is disgusted by him, that Stiles-

“Derek!” someone panickedly calls into the bathroom and Derek winces, knowing full well that it’s Stiles.

He must look pathetic, sitting on the floor like this, eyes puffy red from how close he is to crying.

“It’s fine, you don’t-“ he manages to get out, hating how his voice sounds broken and choked up.

“ _Shit_ , no. No, it’s not fine,” Stiles says hurriedly, sliding down to his knees and hovering his hand over Derek, unsure if he’s allowed to touch. “I didn’t mean what I said. Or well, I did, but not like you _think_.”

Derek sniffles, scrubs harshly at his eyes to keep himself from crying. “What?”

“I was surprised,” Stiles says, cheeks flushing, eyes downcast. “I know Erica said that I had a chance with you but- I was surprised. I didn’t think you _actually_ liked me, that you wanted to date me. I thought Erica might’ve been pulling a prank on me.”

“Erica wouldn’t do that,” Derek says and it’s enough for Stiles to lift his eyes up and _god_ he’s still breathtaking.

“Yeah, I should’ve known. But- it was hard to believe that someone like _you_ would even be interested in someone like me.”

Derek frowns. “What do you mean?”

Stiles gives him a little self-deprecating smile and Derek decides right then and there that he hates it fiercely. “I mean _look at you_. Captain of the basketball team, drop dead gorgeous, actually so polite and honestly _kind_ I can’t even begin to understand it. And then _look at me_. I’m just kinda-“

“Beautiful,” Derek breaths out, cutting Stiles off because he was definitely not liking where that one was going. “You’re kind of beautiful. I mean, _really_ beautiful. And incredibly smart. And stupidly loyal. And I like the way you laugh.”

Stiles blushes rudely, his cheeks going splotchy red and stretching down to his neck as if the blush was shy and was trying to hide under Stiles’ shirt.

“Oh,” he says softly.

“Yeah.”

“I like the way you laugh too.”

Derek smiles. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Stiles says and this time his smile is huge on his face, lighting up the entire dim lit bathroom. “We should try this again. Ask me again, and I promise I won’t shove my foot in my mouth.”

Derek’s smiling so hard he can feel it stretching his lips a little too wide, giving him that good ache in his cheekbones.

“Stiles,” he says softly. “Would you like to go out with me?”

Stiles grins right back. “I’d love to.”

**Author's Note:**

> 'tis the summer my peeps, time for rita to drink her entire fam's weight in water and to attempt to dent all the prompts in her ask and drafts yikes
> 
> [tumblroni over here](http://crossroadswrite.tumblr.com) if y'alls is interested, i post some stuffs that never make it here and the only reason i'm putting this on this fic is 'cause one of my friendos made me feel guilty for not posting all my shit on AO3.
> 
> anywho, have nice summer, hope yall arent baking <3


End file.
